He, too, seemed on a constant high.
Yet, it still came in waves. That tension, like a sick buzz of electricity that zapped her muscles, a white noise that scratched along her nerves. Ivan kept assuring her it wasn’t coming from him, that he was fine, that being with her had nullified anything he’d feared he’d feel. He not only didn’t feel anything negative around his parents, as strange as it might sound, he actually enjoyed being with them.
And then they’d found there was a bonus that neither of them had considered. His siblings.
Cathy and the others, with all their kids, were all over him, as if they recognized he was kindred. This complicated Anastasia’s original plan of moving away as soon as the ceremony was over and seeing their families as little as possible. Ivan deserved to have the pleasure of knowing his siblings and being part of their lives, to bask in their eagerness and admiration, in what she knew would turn to love.
And today of all days, it did feel as if it would be impossible to just walk away from their families.
Debating how to handle or time making this disclosure, she walked into the great room that overlooked the Atlantic and found Ivan looking out to the horizon, in one of the rare times she’d found him alone since they’d come here.
Ivan had invited everyone to stay in his Hamptons estate, where they’d have the wedding. He’d been constantly waving his magic wand to give everyone an experience that would never be equaled, mixing the holiday season celebrations with what he called “wedding overtures.”
When she objected that this was all a far cry from the simple couple of hours she’d expected for the wedding ceremony, he just kissed her and demanded she appreciate his “restraint”, reminding her what it was like when he was extravagant.
His brothers would be arriving a day before the ceremony, and she couldn’t wait to see the rest of that unique brotherhood who’d shared Ivan’s tragic origins, and who had not only triumphed over unimaginable hardships, but also, like him, had gone on to conquer the world in their own fields of virtuosity.
Feeling a wave of love crash on her harder than those on the beach below, she slid her arms around him from the back. To her amazement, he was surprised. Ivan had always been primed, feeling the slightest movement from afar, even before it happened. He’d certainly never been oblivious to her approach, seemed to feel it when it was only an intention in her mind. That he’d been now meant he’d been too consumed by something.
Her heart started hammering with worry. But he was turning to her, plucking her up and into a kiss that, as usual, overwhelmed her.
When he finally let her feet touch the ground again, her hands roved over his rock-hard body, still uneasy. “You okay?”
“I am now.” He gave her another mind-melting kiss. “There’s a lot more to take in than even I thought.”
She knew what he meant. His family. “Is that why you were off in another realm? Why you’re so tense?”
“I was lost in thought, yes. But I’m tense because I’m not making love to you. That is making me downright dangerous. You do remember I put my libido in a deep freeze for years, and now I’m constantly burning. So this—” he brought her hands to his body, sliding them down his chest to his erection, each inch the consistency of steel “—is because of you.”
She pouted. “Whose idea was it to not make love to me?”
He huffed in self-deprecation. “I do get stupid ideas. Always concerning you. I thought I could last a week with all the preparations and the family and friends around to distract me. Especially since their presence isn’t conducive to our kind of explosive encounters. I also thought the torment of abstinence will serve a purpose, make sure I’d give you a wedding night to remember for the next few lifetimes.”
“I’ll remember each night with you longer than that.”
At her hotly aroused statement, he devoured her again.
He was kissing her within an inch of her sanity when her parents walked in. Groaning, they separated, even as her parents started retreating in embarrassment.
But since she did have to try on dresses, and pick one of the dozen Ivan had provided her, she decided to postpone what she’d sought him for, said she was the one who had to go. Her parents accompanied her.
As they walked out, she again felt her parents’ subdued melancholy and lingering unease.
Like her, they hadn’t truly gotten over Alex’s death. And though she had reassured them she knew what she was doing, marrying a man whose rivals called him Ivan the Terrible, who had enough power to tackle a world leader, it was evident they were still worried. She also suspected that even though she’d expanded on the story he’d provided about her and Alex’s accident, they still felt something was off about it and about his role in the whole thing.
But since the truth would only hurt them more, she couldn’t allay their suspicions. Not now, not ever.
* * *
A couple of hours later, after she’d drowned in fairy-tale gowns and picked the one that made her feel least guilty to wear only months after she’d lost Alex, everyone gathered for another of Ivan’s exquisitely catered dinners.
Much later, after the younger generation and their kids went to bed, only she, Ivan and their parents remained.
Ivan took the men to the pool table, and she found herself alone with her mother and his.
As each sat sipping her choice of herbal tea, his mother turned from watching the men and looked back at Anastasia.
“You know, Ana, ever since I first saw Ivan there’s been this...overwhelming feeling that comes over me whenever I look at him. And it’s not because he’s the most powerful and important man I’ll ever meet in my life. There’s just something about him.”